Leading Off:•WATN: Did anyone see this coming? Former Speaker of the House Denny Hastert, a Republican who represented Illinois for almost two decades, was just indicted on charges that he lied to the FBI and “structured” financial transactions to avoid IRS detection. Prosecutors have made few details of the allegations known so far (the indictment itself can be found here), but according to unnamed sources cited by BuzzFeed, the charges could stem from actions Hastert took before entering politics all the way back in 1980.

Hastert unexpectedly became speaker in 1999, after Newt Gingrich resigned from the House following a terrible election year for the GOP in 1998, and Rep. Bob Livingston, his designated successor, also resigned following revelations that he’d had an affair. During his tenure, Hastert was widely regarded as a figurehead, with real power residing in Texas Rep. Tom DeLay, whose career ended amid corruption allegations.

Hastert, by contrast, followed Gingrich’s path: After disastrous midterms in 2006 that saw Democrats retake the chamber, he, too, quit the House. By that time, Nancy Pelosi had become speaker, and in a further insult, Democrat Bill Foster picked up Hastert’s seat in a special election. Hastert always maintained a low profile in D.C., and he’s barely been heard from since he left Washington. But now it looks like we’re about to hear a whole lot more…..

The case has nothing to do about “income.” He was withdrawing his own money from his own back account. If he would have just told the FBI, “I’m giving money to someone for personal reasons”, that would have been the end to all of it. If he goes to prison for what he is charged with, the sentence is not going to be all that long.

The claim that he might generate political favor from anyone if that is true in regards to what he was hiding from decades ago, is laughable.

Needless to say, I find this whole thing very sad but partisans on blogs are going to partisan.

What did I post above that you find objectionable? If a Democrat were involved it would still be sad. I met him many times and I knew his son at one point in time, etc, so it’s a little bit sadder for me than your other political scandals.

The person/people joking that I was maybe “Individual A” really should have considered if that was funny enough or not to bother typing.

I’ve never denied being a partisan, so I don’t see what the issue is. But if it were Pelosi, it would not be something to be acting gleeful about, if anyone anywhere were to be doing so. It’s also that I had more of a personal connection from my past with Hastert than others. Sort of like yourself with Fritz Hollings. It was a big deal for us when he became Speaker and a sense of pride. It’s horrible to think that he could have had such a terrible past secret. There’s a legal process now, I have no desire to say anything else about this.

What you posted would not have been objectionable if you were consistent. Recall how you were all over Anthony Weiner when he got into trouble. I didn’t feel sorry for Weiner, and I don’t feel sorry for Hastert either. By the way, we don’t know what Hastert did that caused him to pay the blackmail, but I’m willing to bet it was much more offensive and criminal than what Anthony Weiner did.

Sorry that you didn’t enjoy my joking around that you could NOT have been Individual A. You are right, a joke is not funny if there is no element of truth in it. No one could possibly believe you could be involved in blackmail. Oh wait, didn’t you tell “Keith” that if he returned to pdog101 you would report his behaviour to some Midwestern Congressman? I don’t think it was an imposter claiming to be you.

I just will say that Nancy Pelosi is still in office, so if there was something that caused her to be indicted or a revelation about a horrible secret from her past, that led to illegal conduct, while in office, calls for resignation would be appropriate. I would assume we could all agree on that.

The Weiner thing was funny. He was not accused of anything illegal (although there were certainly questions raised about whether he might have crossed a line in who he was sending pics to.) There were no actual “victims” beyond his own ego.

james went on for weeks about how it was no big deal and Weiner would never run into any political trouble and was on the fast path to Mayor. Shortly thereafter, his House seat in NYC went Republican.

And I never asked “Keith” for any money, so it’s obviously not blackmail.

I just read that Hastert was involved in paying off for his past sexual abuse. I wasn’t aware of that unitl now.

Perhaps blackmail wsa not the appropriate word, but you were threatening Keith into taking an action that make pdog101 more pleasant for you. Surely, you can see some similariities. If not, then we’ll just agree to disagree.

I think it depends on the circumstance. Sometimes partisanship can get the best out of me, just like it does you people. If there was an allegation that a Democrat molested a child (whether I believed it to be true or not), it would never be something I would joke about or think “hey, how cool, they got caught.” Neil Goldschmidt, the former Governor of Oregon for example. Total scumbag, not something to find humor in though.

Well I guess no one should make fun of a Republican sex scandal because that would make us bad people – but there are so many of them and Corey appears to have the same defense each time one of them gets caught with their pants down.

I do not know what point Scott has other than he dislikes Republicans. He is a smart guy who is well up on current events and has extremely good spelling and grammar skills, but that’s usually the extent of his posts.

Livingston, Hyde, and Gingrich did not break the law, as far as I know. In the cases of the first two, they committed adultery many years in the past. Livingston resigned because of that. I disliked Gingrich because of what he did. Clinton, beyond committing adultery broke the law, and should have been held responsible.

If Denny Hastert broke the law in the 60s or 70s or at any other time in regards to sex, he absolutely should have been held accountable under law.

If he broke the law in regards to these financial matters in the past few years, the same thing applies, but I do not think james understands the case.

I heard a former U.S. Attorney say on tv yesterday what I said in regards to what he could have told the FBI. Paying someone off is not a crime but lying to the FBI is. This has nothing to do with “where the money came from.” The money was his. He earned it legally, after leaving government service, which is what you always praise the Clintons for.

So, I encourage you to maybe read things more closely before spouting off james. I know that even the non-Republicans here would agree.

No Corey my point wasn’t that I “don’t like Republicans”, it’s that many of those who impeached Bill Clinton for having a consensual affair and lying about it either had affairs or, in the case of Hastert, sexual abuse situations that they lied about or covered up.

Orin Kerr: “If I understand the history correctly, in the late 1990s, the President was impeached for lying about a sexual affair by a House of Representatives led by a man who was also then hiding a sexual affair, who was supposed to be replaced by another Congressman who stepped down when forced to reveal that he too was having a sexual affair, which led to the election of a new Speaker of the House who now has been indicted for lying about payments covering up his sexual contact with a boy.”

Yes that sort of sums up the “Family Values” Republicans of the Nineties.

The other day Corey suggested that these hypocrites hadn’t committed any crimes.Well,of course, Hastert did.Hes obviously a child molester being saved from prison only because the Statute of Limitations has rescued him from his deserved punishment and he has violated several financial laws apparently.

As For Gingrich and Livingston ,they were adulterers.Interestingly here in SC ,adultery is a criminal offense.Its an archaic law from the Nineteenth century which is never enforced.In the early 2000s ,a move was made to repeal it.The move was stopped by some Republicans who said they thought such acts should be criminal,,oblivious to the fact that they were labeling much of their leadership from a few years back ,criminals.

Even more amusing?

In 2012 the winner of the SC Republican primary was a real “family values” type,the aforementioned Newt Gingrich!